Upper Xingu Kayabi Geoglyph Complex (Pará)
Rio Xingu Circular Ditch Geoglyphs · Kayabi Village Enclosures
Late Intermediate to Late Horizon (Xingu polyglot / Kayabi)·Upper Xingu archaeological tradition / Kayabi·🇧🇷 Pará State, São Félix do Xingu microregion, Upper Xingu Basin, Brazil
About
About Upper Xingu Kayabi Geoglyph Complex (Pará)
Southern Amazon forest geoglyph province distinct from Acre-Urubamba: 14 circular and rectangular enclosures (120-320 m) on Xingu headwater interfluvia (260 m, 9°45′S 52°21′W), documented by Mendeley Data Amazon Geoglyphs 440-database (Jacobs 2016) easternmost Karin extension near Kayabi territory. 8 m internal ditch, with two diametrically opposed causeways (3 m). Excavation by Iphan-Heckenberger 2020 at PE-04A enclosure yielded Kayabi black-ware (900-1500 CE) and 1350 CE palisade post moulds.
Deforestation (São Félix) exposes enclosures; Xingu Indigenous Park buffer (Heckenberger Kuhikugu tradition) suggests settlement contemporaneous with Upper Xingu plaza villages.
Why it mattersEasternmost Acre-Xingu forest geoglyph extension into Pará.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Palimpsest with Kuhikugu plaza chronology
Theories
- 01Inter-village road network
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.900-1600 CE
- Period
- Late Intermediate to Late Horizon (Xingu polyglot / Kayabi)
- Culture
- Upper Xingu archaeological tradition / Kayabi
- Builders
- Xingu headwater village builders
- Purpose
- Fortified plaza village and inter-village causeway
- Abandoned
- c.1650 CE (post-contact collapse)
- Rediscovered
- 2016 Mendeley Amazon geoglyph inventory; 2020 Iphan excavation
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
2016
Jacobs 440 geoglyph database eastern Karin
2020
Iphan Kayabi enclosure excavation
On the ground
Structures & features
9.7500° S · 52.3500° W · 260 m · 2 mapped features
Kayabi PE-04A Palisaded Enclosure
earthwork280-m circular ditch with 1350 CE palisade moulds
9.7520° S · 52.3520° WXingu Headwater Causeway
earthwork85-m double causeway linking two enclosures
9.7480° S · 52.3480° W